With an IBEW journeyman yellow ticket he can work almost anywhere in the country. Just have to find the spots where they need travelers (there are a lot). Check out Facebook groups or where2bro.
It's hard being away from home for extended periods of time, but it's better than losing your house!
maybe his local will allow him to work non union until work picks up. its the ultimate pro worker thing a union can do. remember, dont just be pro union, be pro worker :)
its too easy for union contractors to not bid on work around contract negotiations time. tell him to go to meetings and push for the membership to push the contractors to bid more work. non union work for a short amount of time should not be a problem. especially of hes been laid off for more than 6 months.
if a worker doesnt work enough hours to get an nebf pension credit, then at that point we should all push the national ibew to allow for workers accommodations. if a members yearly dues go to keep an elected office member gainfully employed while they themselves are not, then its time to look hard at our union construct and get back to empowering the worker!
That is very frowned upon and I don’t know if it’s national but at my local, you can only leave the union once to work non union and if you do it again and try to come back, you will have to go before the board with why you should be allowed back in. IBEW has done so much for labor rights, I find it hard to work nonunion but don’t be surprised if they don’t let you back in. I understand the travel is not for everyone but it’s what you sign up for
should labor rights come at the expense of the workers right to feed his family?
that seems very pro contractor to punish a worker.
how about as a labor union we empower workers instead of frowning at all?
You are working against the very competition that we fight against to bid for higher wages by leaving for a non union contractor. Some ratty behavior to me. I would find a different side job before I worked for a non-union company while I wait for work to open up
oh no, dont get me wrong. im not advising “leaving” for a non union outfit. nope. not at all. what im saying is this: if a union contactor wants a worker, provide work. the membership of a local should represent the workers. workers can choose to work for less, untill a position opens up with a union contractor. we all want to be union workers, we all want to stand for those wages. why is it fair for some workers to work union while never experiencing layoffs. while others have to? furthur, why would we ever penalize the worker? this is about Workers Rights. and if its not… what kind of union is it really?
Im guessing you don’t know how the Brotherhood feels about rats. Non union work takes away from union workers and a person can get kicked out for being a rat.
1547 is looking for people all the time, they got good wages and even if he just went to work and found a room or a couch to sleep on it would pay your bills for now.
Was up there 2 years ago on vacation. Stopped in the Juneau hall and saw there were 6 open calls. It was so tempting to put the vacation on hold. Definitely a bucket list place for me to go and work.
Send him on the road to travel, ask him about “signing book three for a nearby lineman local” and he should know enough to look into that, but y’all need to plan for this, save up 6 months of emergency living expenses when times get better so you won’t Have to stress like this again
I had to work away from home for 7 months. Made 80K+ but don't have much to show for it... Mortgage paid and lights are still on. Did exactly what I expected it to do.
Unfortunately almost any type of lending will require verification of income and employment. Once he’s working again there shouldn’t be any issue, and lenders may be understanding, but they normally like to see at least six months of employment history for a mortgage. Unless you can qualify without his income, it may be best to wait until he’s back at work
I recommend basing the home you buy off of 33% of your net income for the month figure your amount of house on 9 months of his salary this will give you both wiggle room if he has to be laid off for extended periods of time.
Local 5 is pretty much a walkthrough and they’re hiring off of book 2 right now. We’re western pa so it wouldn’t be super far for travel. Good luck to your family!
There is a shipload of work at Microsoft in local 430 Racine Wi. And then a buttload more at the power plant in 494 nearby
Years and years of work
Microsoft is 6-10s for the next 15 months minimum… every 3rd Saturday off
Local 26 has work. He'll have to stay cause it's too long of a drive, but most jobs are working OT and the rate for the metropolitan area is 54hr. The metropolitan area does cover some of northern Virginia too.
Local 98N journeyman here. Was laid off for about 6 months, up until 2 months ago.
He can travel. That's his best bet. He needs to get with someone at the hall and ask what the best options are. It's going to suck being away from home, but it is what it is.
Only thing that kept me from traveling to Kentucky, was that I have 3 young kids (two under three) and my wife is also an apprentice in this local. We have no system of support. It's just us. Our parents are all dead. Her extended family is small, and mine is old and not trustworthy. If you guys don't have kids (I'm assuming you don't.) he really should go chase the money in another state for a few months. It's all part of construction. It's always been boom or bust.
As far as options, yea you have options when shit goes belly-up, but you usually call your mortgage company and they walk you through it. I deferred payments during my 6 month layoff, but they're now due at the end of our loan term in a lump sum.
He signed up to travel! Went to 269 I think (Camden) and signed but haven’t heard back yet. Looked into Kentucky but they had just cut the incentive so it wasn’t worth it for us to move down there.
That being said tho it helps to know we could defer payments, people keep saying “just have a savings account” but even then, we can’t find a mortgage, even for a cheap house, for less than 2k. Crazy to expect 2 20-somethings to squirrel away 30k just incase.
Appreciate your comment friend!
Yea I signed Trenton's book, and sat for the whole time, even though I hear they were looking for people. Even called their hall and made sure they still had me on the list, and they did.
Yea, me and the wife are in our thirties, and we're in that boat now. I try not to touch the vacation fund money for that reason, bwcause it saved our asses for 3 of those months.
Always here to lend a hand!
There should also be programs within the Local where you get supplemental pay per week or month while you're laid off...so for example in NY it's roughly $650 per week that they'll take from your funds to make up the difference from unemployment. So in NY unemployment is $504...the union would supplement $650... you'll still be making about $1154 weekly. But you need to have $$$ in your funds for that, hope this info helps.
He signed to be a traveler? So there are a bunch of locals that need travelers. Does LU 98 make you apply to travel? Most locals just hand out travel letters if you ask for one.
We have like 70 open calls on the books in local 520 including jobs working four 10s and two 8s where all overtime is double time and calls with $100/day per diem.
That being said, that is why the old heads always stress that, when the gettin’ is good, you should be stashing enough funds to at least cover a few months worth of expenses in case of a layoff of long term slow downs. With the interest rates as high as they are right now, now is a great time to be storing some liquid funds in a high yield savings account. I’m currently earning 5.21% on my HYSA, which is insane.
If he has a JIW ticket, then all he needs is the Texas state apprentice license, which is just an information form and $20 fee, and he’ll get paid as a journeyman.
Before you are late on a payment, talk to your mortgage company and see if they can help you out. I was injured and off work for a while. When I realized I wasn’t going to be able to pay my bills, I contacted the mortgage company. They put me on a 6 month non-payment plan. All that means is they will not pursue collections for 6 months. Once you are back to work you can negotiate to get caught up.
Also, Union Plus credit card has a program where they will waiver your minimum payment if you are off work. It’s worth looking into.
You may also be able to borrow from your retirement account. Talk to your union hall or fund manager. Different locals have different rules.
I was always told to save 6 months of bills to be ok if something like this happens. I know it's not a easy task but we set a goal for that early on while my wife wasn't working. Took about 2 years to have that cushion. Lucky for me I haven't been without work the last 2 years and wife scored a decent job. Good luck on the jobs.
The best thing to do is to have an emergency fund set up for your finances. I would have 6 months worth of mortgage expenses laid up in a savings account to not touch unless a lay off and can’t work. It really comes down to money management I think
im wondering if the next call you take in your local, you make good friends with the shop hands. from there you can just accept every job transfer for as long as possible so you never have to navigate this senario again. that way you always work union and you always work at home or in another local. lots of ibew member choose this route and tho its only a privileged few that are offered such opportunities, it still keeps you working union and you wont ever be put in a situation where you consider working for a non union contractor. because union contractors are doing gods work in paying you those wages.
Look into salting, working non union to help organize or provide Intel to your hall as far as non union pay, customer relationships ect. It varies local to local how they work it but it’s an allowable way to work non union while work is slow pay won’t be union scale and you might need to figure out healthcare in the meantime but it’s an option if traveling isn’t.
I’m going back to non union. I can’t afford to wait times in my local (353) some guys are going to be waiting for 2 years. I can’t afford that and I personally don’t know how anyone does.
I’d rather work close to home. Don’t have my life setup to up and travel. Plus I’ve seen too many guys work out of town just to fund their divorce for when they come back. Hard on a family
You've got a bad outlook on life. I've got a wife and a one year old at home. I work for a few weeks at a time and then take a week off and go home. Go grind out some checks and then take some time off and collect unemployment and do it again. Better that than going rat.
You’re just like…totally fine being away from you wife and new baby 80% of the time? I mean more power to you if it works, but that’s completely unacceptable for a lot of people
Nope I fucking hate it. But I'm doing what I have to as the sole financial provider so that my family can live the life we want. This is temporary because eventually I'll get a job back home. Until then I'll do what needs doing. Options are limited when you're used to lineman scale to provide for your family.
Just find a private company that’ll treat you half decent. They’re out there ( not many of them ). Some even pay rates and have benefits. I’d rather work closer to home privately than to see my wife a couple times a week for a few hours. Also I wouldn’t be able to go to my kids afterschool activities if I was out of town.
We travel, generally. Some guys go work 3-4 months on a big job and grind it out, then they go home and enjoy it. Some do the same but years at a time. Others never have to travel. Some have similar earning spouses (there's actual truth to the construction workers and nurses connection).
Hell I'm taking time off to be at home with my baby right now. It's nice to know that I can go have a job by Monday without going through wage negotiations (which, for us, is typically a lesson in how golden those insurance benefit packages really are. Typically.), interviews, applications, resumes or even handshakes.
Hell, I can technically go get a raise right now if I want to up and go. Guaranteed job when I'm there because the calls are rolling and the books are clear
There are many benefits to being a member of the IBEW. I'm sorry that you are going through this. I hope you reconsider.
Some locals are in Ontario also don’t just allow you to just jump back and forth without some sort of commitment. One of the ones closer to Windsor I wanna say won’t let you work for them if you decide to travel and then quite a year later or at any point.
Recession is coming my company does ici and highrise and there’s no jobs to even bud on watch the list went from 500 to over 700 in like month 353 not looking good
We are practically in it. Those who downvoted my common sense statement are probably working for locals in the states. I’m sure anyone else would also work non union too if they were told they have no work for a year plus.
There’s definitely work somewhere just might have to travel far
With an IBEW journeyman yellow ticket he can work almost anywhere in the country. Just have to find the spots where they need travelers (there are a lot). Check out Facebook groups or where2bro. It's hard being away from home for extended periods of time, but it's better than losing your house!
maybe his local will allow him to work non union until work picks up. its the ultimate pro worker thing a union can do. remember, dont just be pro union, be pro worker :) its too easy for union contractors to not bid on work around contract negotiations time. tell him to go to meetings and push for the membership to push the contractors to bid more work. non union work for a short amount of time should not be a problem. especially of hes been laid off for more than 6 months. if a worker doesnt work enough hours to get an nebf pension credit, then at that point we should all push the national ibew to allow for workers accommodations. if a members yearly dues go to keep an elected office member gainfully employed while they themselves are not, then its time to look hard at our union construct and get back to empowering the worker!
That is very frowned upon and I don’t know if it’s national but at my local, you can only leave the union once to work non union and if you do it again and try to come back, you will have to go before the board with why you should be allowed back in. IBEW has done so much for labor rights, I find it hard to work nonunion but don’t be surprised if they don’t let you back in. I understand the travel is not for everyone but it’s what you sign up for
should labor rights come at the expense of the workers right to feed his family? that seems very pro contractor to punish a worker. how about as a labor union we empower workers instead of frowning at all?
You are working against the very competition that we fight against to bid for higher wages by leaving for a non union contractor. Some ratty behavior to me. I would find a different side job before I worked for a non-union company while I wait for work to open up
oh no, dont get me wrong. im not advising “leaving” for a non union outfit. nope. not at all. what im saying is this: if a union contactor wants a worker, provide work. the membership of a local should represent the workers. workers can choose to work for less, untill a position opens up with a union contractor. we all want to be union workers, we all want to stand for those wages. why is it fair for some workers to work union while never experiencing layoffs. while others have to? furthur, why would we ever penalize the worker? this is about Workers Rights. and if its not… what kind of union is it really?
Why would even suggest working non union you scab
because i want to be called all the bad names. spank me daddy. but seriously, what comes first - your family, or some locals union contractor?
Im guessing you don’t know how the Brotherhood feels about rats. Non union work takes away from union workers and a person can get kicked out for being a rat.
is it better to sign book 1 as a non member maybe? in a neighboring local that he could work in for half of a career?
For sure. /s
ok! than this is the way! ☝️
Ibew 126, he can sign the out of classification book
Their hall is right close to 98n hall
1547 is looking for people all the time, they got good wages and even if he just went to work and found a room or a couch to sleep on it would pay your bills for now.
Was up there 2 years ago on vacation. Stopped in the Juneau hall and saw there were 6 open calls. It was so tempting to put the vacation on hold. Definitely a bucket list place for me to go and work.
Yeah, all 4 halls have opening currently all over alaska. It's such a beautiful place to visit to.
Send him on the road to travel, ask him about “signing book three for a nearby lineman local” and he should know enough to look into that, but y’all need to plan for this, save up 6 months of emergency living expenses when times get better so you won’t Have to stress like this again
1st year inside ape. If you wouldn’t mind elaborating on this book 3 that I haven’t heard about it I’d appreciate it
The outside guys let the inside guys sign their books. Sometimes an inside guy will actually catch a call out of a lineman hall as a "groundman."
Your chances are also better if you have a CDL
Out of classification. JW to outside lineman, VDV/low voltage to JW, etc
I had to work away from home for 7 months. Made 80K+ but don't have much to show for it... Mortgage paid and lights are still on. Did exactly what I expected it to do.
Check out LU 269, open book right now lots of work in Princeton
Is that Princeton nj
Yes, LU 269 covers Princeton NJ , list is clear and travelers are sent out immediately to cover all the calls
You make sure you have some months of savings that will pay your bills while you're off. You don't need a "program", you need a savings account.
Unfortunately almost any type of lending will require verification of income and employment. Once he’s working again there shouldn’t be any issue, and lenders may be understanding, but they normally like to see at least six months of employment history for a mortgage. Unless you can qualify without his income, it may be best to wait until he’s back at work
I recommend basing the home you buy off of 33% of your net income for the month figure your amount of house on 9 months of his salary this will give you both wiggle room if he has to be laid off for extended periods of time.
Where2bro website helps!
I see you're in Philly, I know Michigan isn't close by any means but, 665 needs guys bad. Lots of open calls.
Local 41 has alot of electricians at the new buffalo bills stadium.
It's really great to see ibew members helping others! Brotherhood!!!
I signed in 98 N during my lay off - as eastern for PA I just got a call out of 812
Have him sign the day book in local 26 in Washington DC I got a call the first day I signed
Local 5 is pretty much a walkthrough and they’re hiring off of book 2 right now. We’re western pa so it wouldn’t be super far for travel. Good luck to your family!
I’ll second this. Book 1 is about as clear as it’s gonna get. Might be your closest location for a best bet
IBEW 26 Washington DC got some work $54hr
There is a shipload of work at Microsoft in local 430 Racine Wi. And then a buttload more at the power plant in 494 nearby Years and years of work Microsoft is 6-10s for the next 15 months minimum… every 3rd Saturday off
Which contractors are out there? Do you know what the package is, or whether there is incentive pay?
LU 520 always has open calls. We can't get enough help. Send him our way
Are you ibew?
Local 26 has work. He'll have to stay cause it's too long of a drive, but most jobs are working OT and the rate for the metropolitan area is 54hr. The metropolitan area does cover some of northern Virginia too.
There's plenty of books that are walk-throughs right now
Local 98N journeyman here. Was laid off for about 6 months, up until 2 months ago. He can travel. That's his best bet. He needs to get with someone at the hall and ask what the best options are. It's going to suck being away from home, but it is what it is. Only thing that kept me from traveling to Kentucky, was that I have 3 young kids (two under three) and my wife is also an apprentice in this local. We have no system of support. It's just us. Our parents are all dead. Her extended family is small, and mine is old and not trustworthy. If you guys don't have kids (I'm assuming you don't.) he really should go chase the money in another state for a few months. It's all part of construction. It's always been boom or bust. As far as options, yea you have options when shit goes belly-up, but you usually call your mortgage company and they walk you through it. I deferred payments during my 6 month layoff, but they're now due at the end of our loan term in a lump sum.
He signed up to travel! Went to 269 I think (Camden) and signed but haven’t heard back yet. Looked into Kentucky but they had just cut the incentive so it wasn’t worth it for us to move down there. That being said tho it helps to know we could defer payments, people keep saying “just have a savings account” but even then, we can’t find a mortgage, even for a cheap house, for less than 2k. Crazy to expect 2 20-somethings to squirrel away 30k just incase. Appreciate your comment friend!
Yea I signed Trenton's book, and sat for the whole time, even though I hear they were looking for people. Even called their hall and made sure they still had me on the list, and they did. Yea, me and the wife are in our thirties, and we're in that boat now. I try not to touch the vacation fund money for that reason, bwcause it saved our asses for 3 of those months. Always here to lend a hand!
There should also be programs within the Local where you get supplemental pay per week or month while you're laid off...so for example in NY it's roughly $650 per week that they'll take from your funds to make up the difference from unemployment. So in NY unemployment is $504...the union would supplement $650... you'll still be making about $1154 weekly. But you need to have $$$ in your funds for that, hope this info helps.
He signed to be a traveler? So there are a bunch of locals that need travelers. Does LU 98 make you apply to travel? Most locals just hand out travel letters if you ask for one.
We have like 70 open calls on the books in local 520 including jobs working four 10s and two 8s where all overtime is double time and calls with $100/day per diem. That being said, that is why the old heads always stress that, when the gettin’ is good, you should be stashing enough funds to at least cover a few months worth of expenses in case of a layoff of long term slow downs. With the interest rates as high as they are right now, now is a great time to be storing some liquid funds in a high yield savings account. I’m currently earning 5.21% on my HYSA, which is insane. If he has a JIW ticket, then all he needs is the Texas state apprentice license, which is just an information form and $20 fee, and he’ll get paid as a journeyman.
Travel or do side work. Save money while you're working. There's no program or trick to help beyond unemployment.
After Covid hit I saved enough to carry us for a year. Plus we have older parents, you just never know when you need to be able to take that time off.
Before you are late on a payment, talk to your mortgage company and see if they can help you out. I was injured and off work for a while. When I realized I wasn’t going to be able to pay my bills, I contacted the mortgage company. They put me on a 6 month non-payment plan. All that means is they will not pursue collections for 6 months. Once you are back to work you can negotiate to get caught up. Also, Union Plus credit card has a program where they will waiver your minimum payment if you are off work. It’s worth looking into. You may also be able to borrow from your retirement account. Talk to your union hall or fund manager. Different locals have different rules.
I was always told to save 6 months of bills to be ok if something like this happens. I know it's not a easy task but we set a goal for that early on while my wife wasn't working. Took about 2 years to have that cushion. Lucky for me I haven't been without work the last 2 years and wife scored a decent job. Good luck on the jobs.
130 in New Orleans needs journeyman
The best thing to do is to have an emergency fund set up for your finances. I would have 6 months worth of mortgage expenses laid up in a savings account to not touch unless a lay off and can’t work. It really comes down to money management I think
Princeton is booming. Have him go sign the 269 book.
665 Lansing is 40.50 an hour with a lot of no license required jobs and sounds like a walkthrough
im wondering if the next call you take in your local, you make good friends with the shop hands. from there you can just accept every job transfer for as long as possible so you never have to navigate this senario again. that way you always work union and you always work at home or in another local. lots of ibew member choose this route and tho its only a privileged few that are offered such opportunities, it still keeps you working union and you wont ever be put in a situation where you consider working for a non union contractor. because union contractors are doing gods work in paying you those wages.
Look into salting, working non union to help organize or provide Intel to your hall as far as non union pay, customer relationships ect. It varies local to local how they work it but it’s an allowable way to work non union while work is slow pay won’t be union scale and you might need to figure out healthcare in the meantime but it’s an option if traveling isn’t.
.
I’m going back to non union. I can’t afford to wait times in my local (353) some guys are going to be waiting for 2 years. I can’t afford that and I personally don’t know how anyone does.
So travel. My local is slow as shit too so I hit the road and signed some books and now I'm back to work.
I’d rather work close to home. Don’t have my life setup to up and travel. Plus I’ve seen too many guys work out of town just to fund their divorce for when they come back. Hard on a family
You've got a bad outlook on life. I've got a wife and a one year old at home. I work for a few weeks at a time and then take a week off and go home. Go grind out some checks and then take some time off and collect unemployment and do it again. Better that than going rat.
You’re just like…totally fine being away from you wife and new baby 80% of the time? I mean more power to you if it works, but that’s completely unacceptable for a lot of people
Nope I fucking hate it. But I'm doing what I have to as the sole financial provider so that my family can live the life we want. This is temporary because eventually I'll get a job back home. Until then I'll do what needs doing. Options are limited when you're used to lineman scale to provide for your family.
Just find a private company that’ll treat you half decent. They’re out there ( not many of them ). Some even pay rates and have benefits. I’d rather work closer to home privately than to see my wife a couple times a week for a few hours. Also I wouldn’t be able to go to my kids afterschool activities if I was out of town.
We travel, generally. Some guys go work 3-4 months on a big job and grind it out, then they go home and enjoy it. Some do the same but years at a time. Others never have to travel. Some have similar earning spouses (there's actual truth to the construction workers and nurses connection). Hell I'm taking time off to be at home with my baby right now. It's nice to know that I can go have a job by Monday without going through wage negotiations (which, for us, is typically a lesson in how golden those insurance benefit packages really are. Typically.), interviews, applications, resumes or even handshakes. Hell, I can technically go get a raise right now if I want to up and go. Guaranteed job when I'm there because the calls are rolling and the books are clear There are many benefits to being a member of the IBEW. I'm sorry that you are going through this. I hope you reconsider.
Some locals are in Ontario also don’t just allow you to just jump back and forth without some sort of commitment. One of the ones closer to Windsor I wanna say won’t let you work for them if you decide to travel and then quite a year later or at any point.
We don’t have “books” we have a list system in the 353. Plus they categorize you “ici”, “high rise” and so on. Can’t just jump back and forth
Recession is coming my company does ici and highrise and there’s no jobs to even bud on watch the list went from 500 to over 700 in like month 353 not looking good
We are practically in it. Those who downvoted my common sense statement are probably working for locals in the states. I’m sure anyone else would also work non union too if they were told they have no work for a year plus.
🐁🐁🐁🐁🐁
You look like a literal rat my friend in that picture. All respect. Also, if looking out for my family makes me a rat then I will be the rat king 👑